Chapter 150: Little Deer’s Level Three Breakthrough (Second Update)

Ji Yu had not gone shopping in a very long time.

Usually, to avoid wasting even a single minute, he went downstairs to eat as usual, careful not to draw attention, then returned to the dormitory as soon as he had finished.

And in the dormitory, he spent most of his time online.

He had wasted more time than anything else browsing the internet for information about marine life.

So, on the morning after his allotted game time had ended, he left the residential compound early and headed toward Food Street.

There were very few people out on the streets. And even those who were there mostly wore face masks.

After all, according to the official announcement, an infectious disease had appeared on Food Street. In the climate of public opinion the authorities had cultivated, everyone was naturally taking their personal safety very seriously.

Aside from Ji Yu and a handful of others making their way toward Food Street, the streets were desolate.

He also noticed something strange: at regular intervals along the road, there were vehicles disguised as ordinary cars.

Most people might not have noticed them, but Ji Yu spotted them everywhere—military vehicles camouflaged and parked at short intervals throughout the area.

They were not traditional jeeps. Some were black vans, others cargo trucks.

Parked in various places, most were clustered around densely populated residential neighborhoods. Nearly all were painted solid black, with dark windows that made it impossible to see inside from the outside.

They sat by the roadside or in parking spaces at intersections, looking like ordinary unmanned vehicles.

But with Ji Yu’s hearing, the sounds coming from inside those military vehicles could not escape him.

He continued toward Food Street without betraying any sign that he had noticed.

Before long, however, he came upon a cordon.

Police officers stood guard around the sealed-off area, with a long line of security tape stretched across it. There did not seem to be many officers, but Ji Yu noticed a great many construction barriers going up.

The barriers were being erected along the cordon, one after another, like the roadworks carried out by the city’s municipal transport department.

They looked ordinary enough, yet somehow gave the area a different atmosphere.

With Food Street under lockdown, Ji Yu had no intention of doing anything as dangerous as sneaking inside.

Wanting to learn more about the military presence across Wuyang City, he immediately headed north, toward the central district of the Airport Zone.

Gradually, as he moved farther from Food Street, the number of people on the streets began to increase.

After three hours of walking back and forth, Ji Yu finally had a general understanding of how the military had been distributed and deployed throughout the area.

On nearly every street, one or two disguised military vehicles were parked at intervals of less than five hundred meters.

From this, Ji Yu could easily draw a conclusion: the troops currently gathered in Wuyang City’s Airport Zone numbered well over five thousand.

By dispersing into small units, they were protecting the public in this way.

The authorities had clearly done everything they could to avoid disrupting people’s daily lives and the normal order of society.

There were boundary zones at both the airport and Food Street. The measures were plainly necessary.

Ji Yu understood the dangers of boundary zones far better than ordinary people did.

“I hope I still have more time.”

Back at the dormitory, Ji Yu sighed. He had begun to worry about the safety of the people around him.

Wuyang City was an international metropolis in the western part of the Ryan Federation, with a permanent population of more than twenty-three million. And more than three million people lived just in the Airport Zone where Ji Yu was staying.

That was no small number. If the boundary zone on Food Street expanded—or if Violet Moon creatures capable of appearing on Blue Star emerged from within it—the resulting disaster would be unprecedented.

So, given the current situation, Ji Yu could not help feeling dissatisfied with the authorities.

Was there really still any need to keep the truth hidden?

The boundary zone on Food Street was right there, in a district made up largely of residential neighborhoods. If fighting broke out inside it, were the authorities truly unafraid of civilians being caught in the crossfire?

Would they go so far as to sacrifice some people for the sake of temporary stability?

Ji Yu could understand the reasoning, but his personal sense of right and wrong could not accept it.

After all, if someone told you that sacrificing your family would save the entire world, would you—or your family—be willing?

Of course, Ji Yu did not deny that there were people selfless enough to agree. But such people were exceedingly rare.

Sitting by the bed, Ji Yu thought for a long time. In the end, all he could do was sigh.

He realized that what the authorities were doing was not really wrong.

Society needed stability, and people still needed food and the basic necessities of life. Evacuating three million people was no simple matter.

Besides, from a broader perspective, whether the people were evacuated or not made little difference. Humanity had nowhere to retreat to with Blue Star at its back. When faced with an invasion by Violet Moon creatures, there would be no way to retreat.

And it had been only a little over a month since the boundary zone on Food Street appeared. Even if something changed, it was unlikely to break through the military’s encirclement all at once.

When the situation became critical, the authorities would not simply stand by and do nothing.

The authorities were surely thinking much further ahead and making far more preparations than Ji Yu could.

He felt he was worrying too much.

He decided to stop dwelling on it. Instead, he thought of his parents back in the countryside. After calling to check on them, he slowly leaned back on the bed.

“Once I’ve confirmed that the crystals really are harmless, I’ll have to make time to go home.”

Ji Yu began planning in his mind.

Taking the crystals could give ordinary people resistance to Violet Moon. On that point alone, the first people Ji Yu thought of were his parents.

As for his other relatives, he did not feel the same urgency.

Human nature was selfish, and Ji Yu was no exception.

He had no intention of transferring his life essence to his parents.

It would be enough if the two of them could live in peace.

He would also prepare some means of protection for them.

People could call Ji Yu selfish, or accuse him of making decisions for everyone. No matter how others might judge him later, he was going to do it anyway.

Just as he had never told his parents he had tuberculosis, Ji Yu had always been independent and resolute.

At least until Violet Moon had fully invaded the surface, he would not let his parents get dragged into it.

Having made his plans, Ji Yu went into the kitchen and, for the first time in ages, used the vegetables he had bought that morning to make lunch.

——

A week passed in the blink of an eye.

There were now only two days left before Ji Yu would obtain his fourth incarnation.

But in those final days, his fawn incarnation finally reached a day of transformation.

[Congratulations, player. Your second incarnation, the sika deer, has completed the mission requirements for the third stage. Would you like to claim your reward now?]

[Yes / No]

The instant Ji Yu saw the panel appear before him, he switched from his cave salamander incarnation to the fawn and began surveying his surroundings.

The fawn’s five-ring forest was now completely finished.

At its very center was a vast open space.

Towering trees, nearly a hundred meters high, surrounded it, and at their base grew circular beds of flowers.

The flowers and grasses stood tall, their blooms a riot of colors. Their delicate fragrance was enough to soothe the spirit.

In the middle of the clearing, beside the fawn, stood exactly ninety-nine Level Two sika deer.

Perhaps the other deer that had recently broken through was sleeping somewhere else.

Most of the Level Two deer gathered around the fawn were enormous, more than five meters tall, though some were of ordinary size and others were tiny.

They were all lying on the ground, asleep.

They had been allowed into the First Ring Forest to rest alongside the fawn, while the rest of the herd lived in the Second through Fifth Rings.

It was nighttime in the Ryan Federation.

There was no moon in the sky. The clouds were thick and gloomy, as if rain might fall at any moment.

The little fairy nestled beside the fawn’s ear was fast asleep.

Nearby, between several tree trunks behind the fawn, the little fairy had built a vine hammock. Two babies were sleeping peacefully in it.

Looking at the scene, Ji Yu felt a deep envy for the fawn’s life.

This beautiful place, with companions at its side and the herd protecting it, felt far more alive than Ji Yu’s solitary existence.

Slowly, Ji Yu brought the fawn to its feet.

Then he let out a call to the entire herd.

At once, all the deer opened their eyes and stared in confusion at the giant fawn standing before them.

Ji Yu sent them a message telling them to leave the First Ring. The deer obeyed without protest and began making their way out.

At the same time, the little fairy sleeping beside the fawn’s ear was naturally woken by the commotion.

Still drowsy, she fluttered over to the fawn and sent it a puzzled thought.

Ji Yu did not treat her differently. He immediately sent her a message telling her to move away from the fawn.

But unlike the fawn’s thoughts, Ji Yu’s carried the authority of a superior, a command for the little fairy to leave.

The little fairy knew of Ji Yu’s existence through her bond with the fawn. So when she received his stern command, alarm flashed across her sleepy face.

Then, as though startled, she hurried toward the vine hammock where the two babies lay.

After spending so long together, the little fairy knew that the one who had nearly killed her had been Ji Yu—the fawn’s father.

Having regained her true nature, she now revered the fawn’s father as if he were a god. She had come to believe that Ji Yu was immensely powerful.

After all, the fawn had other powerful siblings, too, and the little fairy knew that well.

A being capable of making ordinary life-forms immeasurably powerful in a short time was little different from the gods in the little fairy’s distant memories.

So when Ji Yu appeared and sent his command, she immediately flew away in a panic.

She hid beneath the vines supporting the babies’ hammock, peeking at the fawn with a mixture of curiosity and fear.

Ji Yu found it rather amusing.

Still, he felt he ought to maintain an air of mystery and authority around the little fairy.

He could be warm, even deeply affectionate, toward his incarnations. But with their followers and the other life-forms around them, he had to preserve an air of mystery.

Part of the reason was to keep them in awe. Another was to guard against anyone who might someday try to drive a wedge between Ji Yu and his incarnations.

Only someone mysterious and powerful could inspire fear—and make those with ill intentions think twice before acting.

So, naturally, Ji Yu could not treat the little fairy and others like her the way he treated the fawn and its siblings.

Ignoring the little fairy’s gaze, Ji Yu waited until all the deer had left the clearing in the First Ring Forest. Then, full of anticipation, he confirmed his choice on the game panel and accepted the reward.